Livin' La Needle Loca

 ...my first time at the Sacramento location. ...the short story is that I did not buy as much as previous years. I attended Thursday and Friday. After looking at the vendor list and reading that two (Liza Souza and Stunning String Studio) of the three vendors I wanted to visit had to cancel because of bad weather. Thursday: Arrived 2 hours before the market opened, which gave me plenty of time to check into my hotel and pick up my registration. I organized myself and then headed back to the convention center to knit until the market opened. My primary goal was to purchase fiber from Greenwood Fiberworks. There were lots of yummy fibers and I bought a few. Then I explored the other vendors, looking for more interesting fiber to spin. Seattle Sky Dyeworks was a new vendor for me and I bought a bump of fiber there. I missed seeing both Liza Souza and Stunning String Studio. I planned on spending a lot of time in both booths. :( I got back t...

...and the weeks just keep on whipping by. We have a few things going on in our garden. A few more dahlias have bloomed: The apricots are starting to ripen We have some baby tomatoes: And the hydrangeas are blooming: I'm always tempted by the Phat Fiber newsletter and posting about the latest box. Most times I can resist (I really do not need any more fiber!). However, The May theme appealed to me - Beach Cottages and Lighthouses. Yeah, I bought it. Column 1: Phat Fiber Sample List; Scarf pattern from Mad Angel Creations; Shell stitch marker from Jager and Yarn; May 2020 Phat Fiber button; Stitch marker and buttons from Gloria Patrie Row 1: Green angelina from Kathleen Spins; Merino/Merino Glitz from Sweet Kelly Jane's; Dyed Perendale from Naturally Ewe Row 2: Lair of the Sea Serpent from Fiber Quirks; Cheviot from WyEast Woolens; Silvery Sands of Cape Blanco from Plum Crazy Fiber Art; Row 3: Fine-grade alpaca from Wyoming ...

...the short story is that I did not buy as much as previous years. I attended three of the four days, I skipped Sunday. I had a great time and met a lot of very nice people! Thursday: Picked up my registration; knitted and chatted with several new friends; met an old friend for drinks; and attended the market preview. One thing I wanted to do was talk to the people at the Calpaca booth. My brother-in-law and hie wife gifted me with two alpaca fleeces. Since I have no idea how to deal with raw alpaca fleece, I asked them lots of questions.  Both people n the booth have experience spinning raw alpaca fiber and made many great suggestions. I feel like I have a plan now. Friday: I did some shopping in the morning and spent a couple of hours knitting before my Macro Yubinuki class at 2pm. The class was very challenging and I really need to practice to get the hang of the technique. It was only a 3 hour class and I think a longer class might have been better. This is what I ma...

...yarn version. I haven't been out in the garden to see what's new, so no photos from there. My attention is on the cat when I get home from work. Between medication and trying to get her to eat, time just slips by. You might recall that I was a member of the Rockin' Sock Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts (BMFA) for several years. I stopped mostly because I was no longer knitting the club patterns and I had enough sock yarn to last for a lifetime. Then, I got the notice for this year's club...the theme is Lost in Space. Yeah, couldn't resist that one. I joined late, so I knew I'd be a little behind. However, BMFA has had supplier problems and loss of staff that caused everything to be way behind. It's not really their fault, but had I known thingd would be this delayed, I might have decided to skip it. Thankfully, it looks like things are getting better. Here are the two skeins I've received so far. This is Alderaan, Socks That Rock Lightweight: ...

...yeah, I disappeared for a few days. It was a little crazy at work on Monday and Tuesday while I caught up on things that happened while I was out for Stitches. So here's a recap of what happened since my last post. Stitches West, Thursday: It was a very busy day. Because it was going to be a late night (ending around 9:30pm), I got to the convention center early so I could park as close to the building as possible. I didn't really want to walk in a dark parking lot late at night. My class wasn't until 1:30, so I chatted with people, knitted on a charity hat, and had my lunch. Class was only 90 minutes long. I learned a lot about lace edgings from JC Briar. Market opened at 5pm and for the first time ever, I did not line up to go inside. I waited until 5:15 - by then there was no line. I headed straight for Greenwood Fiberworks and bought fiber. My next stops were knitbaahpurl for a t-shirt, and Bar-Maids for hand and feet creams. I checked out Crafty Flutterby...

...yesterday, I chose crafting! And a little photography. Here is Apricot Orchid [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 6/10/18 Finished 6/23/18 Falkland (4.1 oz) from The Yarn Wench 106.1 chain-ply, 11 WPI I spent most of my day reorganizing my fiber stash. My intent was to pull out a bunch of fiber to queue up for Tour de Fleece. Now, I keep all of my fiber in ziplock bags and put a lot of cedar blocks and bags in each container. I do the same thing for my animal-based yarn. Occasionally, I fail to put an item back in a plastic bag, usually when I'm really tired. You know where this is going... I found two loose yarn cakes that had been munched. ACK! That required checking every plastic bag for the possibility of a breach. Nothing else had been attacked, thankfully, but I need to keep a better eye on things. After cleaning out the storage container where I found the cakes, I added fresh cedar and put everything away. I vacuumed the room and dumped anyth...

...and my weekend report. Despite my hopes for avoiding the majority of the cold symptoms (at least until after Stitches), it hit me full force on Saturday. I managed to get another couple of hours of shopping in on Saturday, but I just didn't have the strength to walk much more. I hoped to crash when I got home, but my sister's husband was in town and came over for a short visit. I wished I'd felt better while he was here as we don't get to see each other very often. After he left, I did the laundry and took photos of the new stuff. Once the laundry was under control, I moved into the house and uploaded my photos onto my laptop. I spent Sunday on the couch. I didn't do much other than coughing, reading, and catching the occasional cat-nap. The Husband was a trooper and did the grocery shopping and made dinner. I did manage to watch the Winter Olympics closing ceremonies, but I was pretty out of it. On Monday, I was feeling marginally better, but the coughin...

...crafting concepts of the week. First, let's go to the top of the waves. I spent Friday afternoon sorting through a few things and working on the Mermaid. I surveyed the cookies remaining from the Christmas baking orgy and decided that I had enough to take to Spin-In without having to bake any more. Yay! Spin-In was great! It was really good to see everyone again. There is something about crafting with a group that is energizing. Not that Craft Coffee isn't energizing; it's just a different dynamic. Lots of good conversation and, of course, good munchies! The next fiber up for spinning is a merino-silk from Lisa Souza, called Mirabel: I want to do something different so I plan on doing spindle spinning and the use the wheel to chain-ply it.  I'm auditioning spindles now and have already rejected one. My KCL Woods mini-spindle (0.62 ounces) works, but is not maintaining its spin very well with this fiber. My next attempt will be a Purpleheart square spindle (...

...and a look at the latest Phat Fiber box. I love Phat Fiber boxes. It's a challenge not to buy one every month as they are filled with yummy fibers and yarns from great Etsy vendors. I love spinning the fiber samples and adding to my stitch marker collection. My wallet, on the other hand, thanks me for not buying one every month! I couldn't resist the Summer Solstice box for June/July. Here it is: Row 1: Gloria Patre, Jager and Yarn, Story Yarns and Beads, Winemaker's Sister, Prairieland Herbs, Mama's Llamas and Alpacas, Zany Pilgrimage Row 2: Fellview Fibers, Purple Lamb, Willow Fairy Wool, Mad Angel, Full Circle Artworx, Wonderland Fibers Row 3: Handmade Hallows, FiberQuirks, Plum Crazy Ranch Fiber Art, Dreadnotix, Golden Threads, Kitty Mine Crafts WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Did a stash dive for sashing alternates Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Stitching the torso and arm. Peek a Boo pillow (cross stitc...

...Today is Fiber Eye Candy™ from the Taos Wool Festival we attended on 10/1/16. This is an Alpaca-wool top in Candy Apple from Prairie Falcon Fibers: Organic Polwarth-Silk top from Widdershins Woolworks: Dyed Wensleydale top from DeGoatnsheep Ranch: Multi-Llama top from Tall Tail Ranch (I just finished the singles on this one): and custom rolags from Woodlake Woolies: The Finished Object is SW Blue art yarn [ Ravelry ] spun from the rolags: Specs: Started and finished 10/23/16 Custom rolags from Woodlake Woolies 20.1 yds., bulky weight Up this weekend: No specific plans.  I do have a little housework to catch up on. I need to get a jump on getting the house in order for Thanksgiving. We're hoping to have a full table again this year. I want to check out some of the holiday magazines to see whether there are any intriguing and new cookie recipes. And I'm still processing vacation photos. I finished day 3 and am starting on Day 4. Maybe i...

...in a nutshell: I saw lots of pretty things, bought some of them, and had a great time. The longer story below. Thursday I didn't find any classes that called my name, so I signed up for the Opening Day Spotlight-Teachers Luncheon combo, and convinced my friend Loretta to do the same. I had never attended the spotlight or the luncheon, so it was something different to do. Plus, I still got into Market Preview that way. :-) The big draw for us was that our weaving teacher and one of the former owners of our local yarn store were two of the panelists. The topic was "Working Fiber Arts into Your Wardrobe." We enjoyed hearing about the process each panelist used to create their garments. My favorite was the garment created by our weaving teacher, Deborah Jarchow. My least favorite was the felted garment, but I don't like felted things in general. Lunch was fun, but very quick. I had never taken a class from any of the teachers who visited our table, so it was ver...

...and the weekend report.  I went to a local fabric store ( The Granary ) to look for the fabric I needed. I'm hapy to report that I found a fabric in the correct color of red that I can use for my sewing project! I also found a gold that will work for a small amount of applique that I need for the same project. Score!! I felt so good about finding the fabric, that I visited my local yarn store ( Purlescence Yarns ).  They were having a Cascade 220 sale I and was looking for a yarn to use as warp for a weaving project. I found a yarn that I can use, some Greenwood Fiberworks fiber that had to come home with me, and some gorgeous gray cotton for weaving.  While I was at Purlescence, I talked to them about my spinning wheel problems. They recommended that I bring my wheel to the shop for repair if I didn't want to do it myself. That sounds like the best idea because they know about wheels. I'm too afraid that I will do something wrong and wreck my baby! I worked on th...

...wishing that it had been a 4-day weekend instead of 3. I was on a roll! I continue to make progress on the commission piece. I swapped out a couple of fabrics that were just too bright. I'm now in the final layout mode.   I scoped out the fabrics at my local quilt store for border candidates. There are some batik options and some marbled options that could work.   I did not work on any knitting.   I packed up Tucson Twilight and put it on hiatus.   I started the Santa Fe #5 needlepoint project that I showed in this post . I'm using the stitch guides that I kept for my previous Tish projects (Santa Fe #2, Santa Fe #3, and Hopi Horizon) and a photo of the completed project as rough guidelines on how to stitch it. Fortunately, this series uses the same instructions for the border and the pottery, so those will be easy to stitch.   While looking for the Tish stitch guides, I took a hard look at my binders full of free charts and decided that I really didn'...

...no updated pictures of the WIPs, but this fiber is currently on the wheel: in the WIPs-to-be category, my yarn arrived for the Loopy Academy projects! Here's what I'm using. For the Cowl in a multicolored (2+ colors) fingering yarn, I'm knitting the Alcea Cowl [ Ravelry ] in La Jolla yarn by Baah!, using the Brazilian Emerald colorway: For the hat in a designer new to me in a sport or DK yarn, I'm knitting the Wurm hat [ Ravelry ] in Tosh DK by Madelinetosh, using the Lepidoptra colorway: For the mittens in a solid or semi-solid color in worsted weight, I'm knitting Raspberry Mittens [ Ravelry ] in Dream in Color Classy. The yarn I ordered for them might not be right, so I may need to order another. This is the color I bought, Amethyst Ink: It's very dark with amethyst undertones so I'm not sure whether it qualifies as semi-solid color. I love the color, so it won't be wasted! WIP Roll Call WIPs in Rotation: Beyond Antares,...

...I finished something over the weekend! This is Holly Berries [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 8/23/14; Finished 9/7/14; Merino-silk top (4.6 oz) from Wonderland Dyeworks; 219.6 yds chain-ply, 11 WPI Top-of-the-Waves: On Saturday, we took the train to San Francisco and met the Daughter for lunch. We walked down the Embarcadero to a little Peruvian restaurant and made a meal from their small plate selections. We walked around the Ferry Building for a bit before heading home. It was a gorgeous day in the City with only a little wind here and there. A wonderful way to spend the afternoon. Because the train trip was over an hour, I spent the time knitting a cowl. This could end up being a gift, so I'm not posting a picture here.   I walked 13,589 steps on Saturday, a personal best for me! And I paid for it on Sunday with very sore hips and calves!   I joined the Loopy Academy , which requires that you finish a set of 3 projects in 3 month...

...I'm a little behind in reporting, partially due to the fact that the ETC classes run through Monday and I had a bit of catch-up to do at work yesterday. I skipped going to the Stitches West Market on Saturday because I wanted to pick up my new glasses. I wanted to have my new pair for the weaving class. Getting my glasses took way longer than it should have. Note to Lenscrafters: when I buy frames, don't put them back on the shelf! Seriously! Read the glasses order and notice that the frames are missing when you make the lenses! I had to wait for them to find the frames again and then wait while they put the lenses in. And let's just say that the Saturday crew is not nearly as attentive as the weekday crew... Anyway, I ran a few errands after that and did some laundry. I packed up my loom and made sure I had everything I needed for class. I started taking pictured of my new stash. :) Playing with Pick Up Sticks Class, Day 1: I bought breakfast at Starbucks before ...

...and there are several things in play. As promised, here's a look at the current state of Anasazi: Not my favorite color combination, but it's still infinitely better than Vegas (AKA: the Pink Nightmare). I have knit about 4 inches of the 10 inches that I need for the Cousteau hat. I have restarted the Rockefeller shawl and the Cat Bordhi method of hiding the wraps for W&T is working. Halleluja! Mediterranean Mermaid: the beading has begun! I found a few thread options at Jo-Ann's yesterday. I found a slightly thicker invisible thread, a light gray silk, a pale blue rayon, and a pale green rayon. The pale green matches the fabric very well and is easier to work with than the invisible thread. Here's what the tail looks like so far: It's going to be a long slog...this picture represents about 3.5 hours worth of beading. In stash news, I received a couple of club shipments this month. First is the December 2013 installment of the Rockin'...

...the end of the year is fast approaching! The one WIP that is getting lots of extended play if the Mediterranean Mermaid.  For some reason, I find it more enjoyable to cross stitch than knit, at least for now.  Here is what she looks like: Sometimes I wonder about cross stitch designers and their color choices. In addition to the odd blue color in this mermaid's hair, the designer uses two shades of brown that have such subtle differences that it is hard to distinguish them even under the Dazor magnifier lamp.  Seriously?  If I can't tell the difference under high magnification and bright light, will it really make the finished picture that much better when it's hanging on the wall? All it's doing right now is making me crazy while I try and figure out if I've stitched it "correctly." Guess I shouldn't care if there is a stitch or two in the wrong brown... I've made a little progress on the Carbonized Zombie Socks. I'm working on the...

Registration opened today at 7am Pacific time. And you know I was right there, ready and waiting for it to go live! My weaving friend and I signed up for the ETC workshop called "Playing with Pick Up!"  ETC workshops are two-days long and we are looking forward to learning all we can from our favorite weaving teacher, Deborah Jarchow. We had a wonderful dinner with the Daughter on Saturday. We walked around Jack London Square for a bit before heading to the restaurant. She is quite fortunate to have a wonderful view from her apartment of the Bay Bridge--at night the lights are gorgeous! On Sunday, we walked the entire Mountain View Art and Wine Festival. As usual, we did not buy anything.  It was very hot and crowded. We were very happy to get into an air conditioned car for the drive home! I finished the machine quilting of the first baby quilt, sewed on the binding and added the label. I'm not in the process of burying all the loose threads. I should be able to ...